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4 days ago, my screen wouldn't come on. I shut down the computer and it came back up (screen worked). The next day when I tried to awaken the computer, the screen wouldn't come on no matter how many times I restarted. Hooked it to an external screen and it worked fine (on the desk monitor). Used it for two days this way. I ordered an inverter to troubleshoot the monitor, but haven't received it yet. Yesterday I downloaded a software program from CNET to manage sales contacts (adding this as it's the only change I made). Today, I closed the laptop down, took it to work and hooked it to a monitor there. When I did, I get the Dell splash screen, then just a black screen with a blinking cursor in the upper left. I can get into the BIOS menu by hitting F2 and it appears to be booting off the HD. I can not start in safe mode. If I keep hitting buttons on the blank screen, I eventually get a beep with each key press (about 15 keys, then beeps with each key).

Anyone know how I can fix this or troubleshoot if it's the mortherboard or HD? I'm actually hoping for the mortherboard so I can get data off the HD.
Thanks!

At the first menu with Default settings (Runs from RAM) selected, press <ENTER>.Be patient while PartedMagic loads into memory, and then displays its Desktop.

Success? Let me know if you can successfully boot to the Desktop of PartedMagic, and whether you are using a bootable CD or a flashdrive.

PartedMagic Desktop version 2012-08-09

At the PartedMagic Desktop, open a terminal window:

Locate the black screen/monitor icon (ROXTerm) along the bar at the bottom of the Desktop screen (third icon from the left-side edge).

Click on the ROXTerm icon to open a terminal window and at the prompt, type:

fdisk -l

Note: There is a space between "fdisk" and "-l".
That is a lower case L as in Llama and not a ONE.

... and press <ENTER>.

Drag your mouse over the output to select it all.

Right-click somewhere in the area selected > Copy(In the next step, you will paste this in a reply.)

Open Firefox (the Firefox icon is on the Desktop:

Hopefully you will have an internet connection already.

Go to www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums, sign in and find your topic.

Paste the output of fdisk -l in your reply.

Let me know if you have any problems.

At the PartedMagic Desktop, open a terminal window:

Click on the ROXTerm icon to open a terminal window and at the prompt, type:

dd if=/dev/sda of=mbr.bin bs=512 count=1

Note: Leave a space between the following:

dd ... the executable application used to create the backup

if=/dev/sda ... the device the backup is created from (the hard drive when only one HDD exists)

of=mbr.bin ... the backup file to create - note the lack of a path - it will be created in the directory currently open in the Terminal

bs=512 ... the number of bytes in the backup

count=1 ... says to backup just 1 sector

It is extremely important that the if and of statements are correctly entered.

[*]... and press the <ENTER> key.A file named mbr.bin will be saved to the system in the "root" directory.Note: This file is saved in memory only and will no longer exist when PartedMagic is shut down.[/list]At the PartedMagic Desktop, double-click the File Manager icon (on Desktop):

A new window will open.

In the "root" directory you will see the file that you just created called mbr.bin.

Right-click on the mbr.bin file > New > Archive.

Under "Archive Format", choose the format .zip from the drop-down menu.

Click Save.

You should now see the zipped file, mbr.bin.zip in the root directory along with mbr.bin.

I double checked and made sure I followed those instructions closely. I get the same error. I will try the boot program on a computer at work tomorrow as my desktop here has encryption that won't let it boot from anything else.
I'll let you know if it works.
Thanks!

Ok, it doesn't seem to work on that computer either. I'm following the link for "Creating the LiveUSB", once on my desktop, I'm selecting the PartedMagic option, selecting the drive letter my flash drive is in, waiting for the download to complete, reseting my computer, taking out the stick and finally booting it from the USB on the other computer. Am I missing somthing?

Double-click the unetbootin-xpud-windows-387.exe that you just downloaded.

Click Run > OK.

Select the DiskImage option and then click the browse button located on the right side of the text-box field.

Browse to and select the xpud-0.9.2.iso file that you downloaded.

Verify the correct drive letter is selected for your flashdrive, and then click OK.
A small bootable Linux operating system will be installed on the flashdrive.

Once the files have been written to the device, you will be prompted to reboot: Do not reboot the computer.

Instead, just exit the UNetbootin interface (simply close the installer).

Remove the flashdrive from the computer.

You will use this flashdrive to boot the ailing computer from.

Boot the ailing computer with the xPUD flashdrive.

(You may have to configure the Boot Menu or BIOS Setup Menu to boot first from the flashdrive/USB HDD.)
A Welcome to xPUD screen will appear.

Click on File.

Expand the mnt icon on the left (click on the little arrow beside the icon).

sda1, sda2 etc. ...usually correspond to your HDD partitions

sdb1, sdc1 is likely to correspond to a USB flashdrive, external USB hard drive etc.Note: It may happen that after booting to xPUD on a flashdrive and then looking for the flashdrive, you are not able to find it anywhere. If this happens, simply unplug the flashdrive, wait briefly and then re-plug it back into the system, and it should now show up.

Click on the folder that represents your USB drive (sdb1 ?).

Click Tool on the top menu, and choose Open Terminal.

Type the following at the hash prompt:

dd if=/dev/sda of=mbr.bin bs=512 count=1

Note: Leave a space between the following:

dd ... the executable application used to create the backup

if=/dev/sda ... the device the backup is created from (the hard drive when only one HDD exists)

of=mbr.bin ... the backup file to create - note the lack of a path - it will be created in the directory currently open in the Terminal

bs=512 ... the number of bytes in the backup

count=1 ... says to backup just 1 sectorIt is extremely important that the if and of statements are correctly entered.

Press the <ENTER> key.
After it has finished a file will be located on your USB drive named mbr.bin.

Go to Home > Power Off > Turn Off and remove the flashdrive as the system shuts down.

On the working computer:

Insert the flashdrive, and navigate to the file mbr.bin

Zip-up the mbr.bin file:

Right-click on the file and choose Send to .. > Compressed (zipped) Folder.
A zipped folder will appear in the same location as the mbr.bin file.

Please attach the zipped file to your next reply.
This will allow the MasterBootRecord of your hard drive to be checked to see whether or not it is infected &/or damaged.

Sorry for the delay, I forgot my flashdrive at work last night. Attached is the mbr.zip file. Just as an fyi, as the bootup came on, the screen on my laptop worked for about 10-15 secs. Not sure if that adds anything to the diagnosis.
Thanks!

I have the mbra file on my flash drive and can see it on the ailing computer, but when I tried to write it, I am missing the:
"512 bytes (512 copied, 0.00314681 s, 163 kB/s"
line in the results. The first two are there. I tried normal reboot and still have the issue. I'm assuming it didn't actaully write? Should I try it again?
Thanks for the help!!